Reminiscence
by DecemberWildfire
Summary: (Gaara x OC; sequel to "Where I Want To Be"). The Fourth Great Ninja War has ended, times of peace have come... and Gaara has been enjoying always having his favorite person around. One-shot.


A/N: Again, this is a sequel to my story "Where I Want To Be." I wanted to write more fluff about these two. Because I'm weak like that-

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" _You know, I've never once thought of you as a monster. Not for a second."_

" _I know. It was always you. Only you."_

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The Kazekage slowly pushed the door open to her office. The young woman was so focused on her paperwork that she didn't even notice him at the doorway.

He let it go on for a moment, being amused by her amazing concentration. Although Harley wasn't a kunoichi, she was making valuable contributions to the village every day. She proved to be especially competent when he had left her in charge of the entire estate's administration while they were all away at war. She had since been his official assistant.

"...Am I interrupting?" he finally spoke.

Looking up from her desk and meeting her beau's eyes, she said, "Oh, sorry! I didn't see you there."

"Heavy workload today?"

"Sort of. I'm just trying to get it done so I'm not here all night. We got an astronomical amount of requests from various surrounding villages this morning, so I'm trying to categorize-"

She was cut off as Gaara took her hand, and picked up a stack of papers with his free one.

"Let me assist you," he said.

"Are you sure? Aren't you swamped too?"

"My workload is rather minimal today. I'm happy to do it. I don't want you spending the night in your office either."

He was smiling warmly at her. To anyone else, it would've looked like he was just being polite. But anyone who knew Gaara well enough would know that it meant something when he smiled. She reciprocated and, per usual, persuaded him to stay in her office and keep her company while they worked and listened to music.

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It had been a hectic day of nonstop requests and complaints; council members and citizens alike constantly in and out of Gaara's office, piling up his workload.

Not that this was unusual or anything; he just preferred it when these things were more spaced out, so he could have some time to himself to breathe. This introverted nature was something he and his girlfriend had in common, though she was definitely more social when she needed to be.

When the madness had finally settled down, he leaned back in his chair and stared at one of the photos on his desk for a while. It was a picture of him with Harley and Hayley, from the last time the latter of the two visited them. Although Gaara often came off as overly serious and even cold to a lot of people, he had a huge soft spot for those two. They never once felt intimidated by him, no matter what. Before he was Kazekage, and before he was approachable by even his siblings, those girls cared for him deeply. He felt his mind start to wander. Reminiscing about their last visit, and all the times they'd shared over the years… and the time he first met them…

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He was eight years old when they came to Sunagakure for the first time. And those two weeks were the best time of his childhood life. It broke his heart when they had to leave, but they wrote to each other all the time; especially him and Harley. But then the day came when Rasa intervened and severed the relationship. Though he lost contact, Gaara held those two tightly in his heart for a long time. His first and only friends.

But after so long, the memory of them started to fade. They were taken away from him and his attention was forcefully focused on other things. And after a while, the two weeks he spent with them felt more like a dream than anything. A wonderful, miraculous dream. Did they really exist? Did he make them up in his mind out of desperation for companionship?

After all, Rasa had quite literally shattered all the evidence Gaara had of their existence back then. So at times, it seemed entirely plausible to him that those girls were merely imaginary friends and nothing more. What real person would enjoy the company of such a monster, anyway?

When he saw Harley for the first time six years later, he thought he was hallucinating. But once he felt her embrace and realized it was all real, and that his best friend was right there in front of him… for that brief moment he had never been so happy. Reality was clear again. That feeling, however, was immediately followed by intense guilt and shame.

But she wouldn't have any of that. He didn't even have to explain himself, really. She understood and forgave him immediately, and didn't treat him any differently (other than the showering of love and reassurance, of course). The young redhead had never felt such pure love from anyone else his whole life.

He retained a somewhat cold exterior for the longest time. But ever since the war ended, and the times of peace began, and Harley was always around… he actually was beginning to feel genuinely happy. Knowing the truth about his mother also helped, of course. That hard shell was slowly melting away. While he would never be nearly up to Naruto's level when it came to expressing happiness and excitement and being energetic, the change was still evident to those close to him. He smiled a lot more. Didn't feel so down all the time. He was easier to approach and talk to. He even _laughed_ from time to time, but usually only around her. These things would seem insignificant to the average person, but for Gaara, it was huge.

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"Hey, you. Can I steal you away for a little bit? You look like you need a break," the blonde bombshell said playfully as she entered Gaara's office.

As much as he would love to get out, he had to decline. "I'm sorry, this isn't a good time. I need to go over all of the Chunin Exam reports and have the approvals completed by tomorrow."

"This will be quick, I promise."

"I can't just-"

He felt a hand on his shoulder as she came over to his side of the desk. "Come on, take a breather with me. And then when we get back I'll help you with the rest of this. I've become well-known for my powering-through-paperwork capabilities, you know."

He sighed in surrender, though feeling a bit of relief for the moment.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I'll show you. Follow my lead."

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The two walked through the village, getting closer to the outskirts. Naturally, the villagers tried to converse with Gaara, whether out of admiration or to ask for assistance with little things. But Harley was able to respectfully deflect them all, and made it look easy, much to Gaara's surprise. But he supposed it made sense, since she knew most of them by that point from all of her community involvement.

"Oh, Kazekaze-sama!" a man called out. "I really need help with-"

"Sorry Jiro," Harley cut in, "but we're really busy right now. You can submit a request form to my office and I'll get to it as soon as I can."

"Kazekage-sama! And Lady Harley…!" an older woman further down the road called as she approached. She had a teasing tone to her voice. "My, my… you didn't tell me how handsome your man was getting last time I saw you, young lady… if he gets any taller I might have to get some mountain climbing gear."

"You're getting dangerous to even stand close to, you know that, Seiko?" Harley said, laughing.

"So I've been told," she teased.

"Well, like everyone else, if you need assistance, you'll have to-"

"Oh no, dear, I don't need anything. I'm just people watching."

"Well, um… have fun."

The two began walking off again when Harley suddenly grabbed Gaara's hand and started running, catching him by surprise and making him forget about the awkward encounter that just happened.

"Wh-why are we running?" he asked.

She looked back and smiled brightly at him, causing him to reciprocate. "We're losing precious break time! The clock's ticking, mister!"

Gaara realized where she was taking him when the large greenhouse came into view. That area was pretty much the only spot in Suna that was green and blooming with flowers. She led him inside.

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The greenhouse was full of various cacti that Gaara was growing; a favorite hobby of his. Upon entering he noticed an extra table that wasn't there before with some new potted cacti.

Harley walked over to it and picked one of them up, smiling excitedly at her beau. "I started growing my own cacti collection, doing everything you taught me. I harvested the seeds from the pods of the ones behind me, and it took a while, but they finally started to grow! I'm having a lot of fun with it."

He was so proud.

"I'm glad you took a liking to it. They all appear to be healthy and well-cared for."

"Good thing I had an excellent teacher," she said, winking.

She set the cactus down and the two took a seat on a bench.

"Remember the first time you brought me here?" she asked.

"Indeed. It was the first time you came back to the village after all those years."

"You showed me your proud collection of cacti, and…" she started laughing. "And a squirrel somehow got in here and was eating the herbs, and we got to watch Kankuro frantically chase it around trying to get it out…"

"Yes, that was… a situation." He couldn't help but snicker at the memory.

She turned her head to face him; his arm was wrapped around her and both of them were enjoying each other's warmth, despite it already being hot in there.

"It was also in here during one of my visits that I realized I loved you," she said. "I mean, I think I always knew, but it finally _hit_ me, when we were here and I was learning how to water a cactus, and you took my hand as you guided me. And you even put up with my ridiculous singing when I went off on my own to water the rest. You even told me I was _good_ at it. Good times… I just knew after that night that I didn't want to spend life with anyone else, whether it was as friends or more than that."

The redhead held a long smile, gazing out the glass ceiling at the moon. He squeezed her hand and closed his eyes, also reminiscing.

"I had gotten so used to the look in peoples' eyes when they saw me. It was always the same. But you looked at me differently. You never once saw me as a monster, even after knowing everything about me. Only you. I loved you from the day I met you."

She leaned back into his arm. "I think I did too. I was just really dense about this stuff..."

"I was no better, I assure you."

Placing a hand on the opposite side of his face to make him face her, she pressed her lips into his. Although he was getting better with time, he still wasn't the greatest at initiating these things, so she often took the lead. And he loved every moment of it.

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It was the grand opening day of Suna's new train station. A large crowd of villagers was gathered around; a handful of them about to be the first ones to ride it.

It was Gaara's idea to build it, making it much, much easier and faster to travel to other villages and lands. He had teamed up with the other Kage to install connecting stations in each respective village. The shinobi were especially excited about the new travel convenience.

Gaara, his siblings and Harley were standing behind the crowd as people started to board the train. Harley turned to almost whisper in her beau's ear.

"This is incredible. You know that? This was all you. I can only imagine how proud your mother would be of you…"

 _Your mother..._

Staying composed for the public, he simply closed his eyes and smiled, beaming.

"How someone like me ever got lucky enough to have you, I'll never know."

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A/N: JS, that part with Seiko was definitely inspired by a Gilmore Girls scene. Hashtag Miss Patty.

Welp. Like the first one, this was incredibly rushed, but I wanted to do it anyway and couldn't help but be outrageously cheesy. I just love these bbs ok

Tbh I don't really know what Kages do all day besides paperwork and the occasional mission.


End file.
